RAWALPINDI/CHAKWAL:
A significant development has emerged in the murder case of Australian-Pakistani minor Hania Ahmed in Chakwal during the CCD shooting, when an audio message from her injured father, Adeel Ahmed, emerged.
Expressing his discontent with the ongoing police investigation, he claimed that four CCD members riding on two motorcycles chased and fired indiscriminately at his vehicle, while the robbers had not initially opened fire.
Speaking from Benazir Bhutto Hospital in Rawalpindi, Adeel Ahmed said he resides in Perth, Australia, and had returned to Pakistan with his family on June 10 after performing Hajj.
He said they had gone to visit relatives when two thieves approached them outside a house and began a robbery. According to him, the family was handing over valuables when a shootout suddenly occurred. He alleged that the CCD personnel opened fire on their vehicle first, after which the robbers fired only two shots before fleeing.
Adeel Ahmed said his son Afnan, 11, suffered two gunshot wounds while he himself was hit twice, including a bullet lodged in his arm. His nine-year-old daughter Hania Ahmed suffered three to four gunshot wounds and died before reaching hospital.
He stated that the shots were so intense that even the vehicle’s brakes stopped working, but despite his injuries he managed to take his family to the hospital.
He alleged that the tragedy could have been avoided if the CCD staff had allowed the robbers to leave and pursued them later.
“The CCD targeted our vehicle and not the thieves. If I hadn’t left, they would have killed us all,” he said.
Adeel Ahmed stated that he was not seeking financial assistance, but wanted a transparent and impartial investigation to avoid similar incidents in the future. He added that Australian High Commission officials had met him and would visit him again.
He further stated that neither the Pakistan nor the Punjab government had contacted the family and said he would ask the Australian government to seek justice on their behalf. He also alleged that the Chakwal police were trying to protect the CCD staff.
Meanwhile, Additional IG CCD Punjab Sohail Zafar Chatha told the media at the residence of the victim’s grandfather that the CCD does not believe in extrajudicial killings and acts only against people involved in serious crimes.
He said these suspects are often armed and have a history of shooting at police, but he stressed that the life of any citizen is more valuable than the arrest of two robbers.
He claimed that three or four robberies had taken place in Chakwal within a few hours on the day of the incident, putting the CCD on high alert. However, he acknowledged that a better strategy would have been to pursue and arrest the suspects later. According to him, the robbers involved were from Sheikhupura and were later killed in a CCD operation.
Describing the incident as deeply tragic, he said the entire department stands with the affected family and the success of the investigation will ultimately be measured by the trust of both the family and society in the CCD. He added that the institution now has the opportunity to correct its shortcomings following the death of Hania Ahmed and that training procedures would be reviewed and stricter SOPs introduced to help prevent similar incidents in the future.
